US Senate Candidate Supporting Bitcoin Had Defeat in Preliminary Elections

Austin Petersen, who is a candidate for the US Senate and is known for his active support of Bitcoin, lost in the primary Republican elections that took place on August 7.

As unofficial data provided by the Secretary of State of Missouri shows, Attorney General Josh Hawley has bypassed Petersen, gaining more than 58% of the vote. In the general election, Hollesen will face a representative of the Democratic Party, Claire McCaskill. Petersen said:

“Sorry I couldn’t pull out a win for us, friends. My faults as a candidate are my own, and not the fault of our activists. I am not a perfect messenger. One day soon I believe we will see more leaders who rise up and fight for our cause more fiercely and more successfully than I.”

As earlier this year ABC News reported, Petersen received 24 donations to Bitcoin for his election campaign. The total amount of the donation was less than $ 10,000, despite this, one of Petersen’s donations was called the largest Bitcoin donation in the history of federal elections.

On December 20, Petersen’s election headquarters received a contribution of 0.284 BTC, which, presumably, were converted into dollars. Taking into account the Bitcoin course at that time, the amount of the donation was over 4,500 dollars, despite the fact that the maximum allowable amount is 2700 dollars. Then, on the Petersen website, a statement was published that indicated that $ 2,700 would be used in the primary elections, while the remaining amount would be used in the general election. Petersen’s campaign manager Jeff Carson said:

“I think it goes without saying we’re going to see a lot more of [cryptocurrency] in terms of campaign contributions and campaign financing… Austin is personally a fan of competition in the marketplace, even when it comes to our currency. With the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, it was a no brainer for us to use those.”

It should be noted that the election campaign of Petersen made it clear that the adherents of the cryptocurrency can have their representative in the Congress, which is an important factor since many members of the government believe that the cryptocurrency needs strict regulation, while others are sure that this is just fraud.